10th Annual Report of the Board of Public Works to the Common Council of the City of Chicago, 1870-1 For the Municipal Fiscal Year Ending March 31, 1871 published by the University Press, Cambridge, Mass: Welch, Bigelow and Co., 1871.

The Board Members were:
John McArthur, Commissioner and President
W.H. Carter, Commissioner and Treasurer
Redmond Prindiville, Commissioner

Members acting only in matters pertaining to the cleansing Chicago River:
William Gooding
Edward B. Talcott

Officers:
F.H. Bailey, Secretary
E.S. Chesbrough, City Engineer

"The work of deepening the summit division of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which was undertaken by the city, has now been accomplished, and the locks at Bridgeport and Lockport are now being removed….The deepening of the canal was commenced by the city in the month of February 1866, and has been prosecuted with few interruptions to the present time. The cost of the work accomplished to the lst of April, each year, is as follows:

        1866              $ 20,255.25
        1867               144,501.89
        1868               326,843.13
        1869               560,121,37
        1870               748,023.40
        1871            1,182,692.40
        Total Cost  $2,982,437.13

The report continues "No more important and necessary public improvement has ever been undertaken by the city. The water of the river has become more and more filthy and offensive with the increase of our sewers having their outlet therein, and the absolute necessity of providing a way of carrying off this accumulation of filth has become more and more apparent. It is confidently believed that his will prove an adequate and permanent means of relief, so far as the main river and the South Branch are concerned." ¹

The project spend $2,982,437.13 to April 1, 1871 but the report continues "it is estimated that there will be required, to complete the canal, the sum of $130,000.00 to which is to be added the discount on Canal Bonds, amounting to $95,682.61 together with the amount paid for lost tolls $43,501.07, thus the total estimated cost of the project was recorded as $3,251,620.81 in this report. ²

"The act of the legislature which gave the city of Chicago authorization to deepen the canal also gave the city a vested lien upon the canal and its revenue, for the amount expended on said work, to the extend of 2 and one half million dollars and the interest thereon. The city will therefore be reimbursed this amount and interest, from year to year, from the earnings of the canal." ³ A footnote in the report indicates the "final work was accomplished on the afternoon of Saturday, July 15, 1871." ⁴